Tag Archives: Peter Jones

It all started in September 2012, when I decided to fill in the online application form for BBC2 Dragons’ Den.

Our novel DNA artwork company PlayDNA had been going commercially for about 6 months, and while we had had some successful patches following (expensive!) exhibitions in London and Oxford, with a non-existent marketing budget we were struggling to gain any momentum in terms of sales. This was not part of our original plan – we did allocate a marketing budget from the small pot of cash that was originally intended to be our first home deposit– but issues with lab work soon gobbled that up.

So what to do? How to round up that marketing budget and simultaneously generate as much interest in what we do as possible in a short time-span, at minimal cost? “Well”, I thought as I sat down at the computer, “this seemed as good a punt as any”!

I spent an hour or two filling in the application, fired it off into the abyss of the internet and waited. I heard absolutely nothing for several months, and by February 2013 had pretty much forgotten all about it. It was not a good time.

My much missed, amazing nan at my PhD graduation

My seemingly indomitable and energetic nan had just passed away after a short illness and we were all feeling very down. I was back at my mum’s house the night before her funeral when I got the phone call.

It was a representative from the BBC, who wanted to have a chat about my application. I shut myself in my old bedroom and answered his questions, in what turned out to be a phone interview. At the end of it, he declared that they would be interested in seeing our pitch, and, after completing another (Pre-Audition) Questionnaire, could we come along to Television Centre at Shepherd’s Bush in London in a couple of weeks time?

“Sure” I said, before heading downstairs to explain to boyfriend and business partner Stuart what I had just got us both into! I couldn’t help thinking about what nan would have said if she were with us still, she had always supported us and I like to think she’d have been quite excited by it all.

Like cat-nip for girls apparently.

It was the weekend of Comic Relief 2013 when we pulled into BBC Television Centre to make our pitch to the Dragons’ Den production team. I distinctly remember the massive queue of young (and, shamefully, not so young!) girls snaking around Television Centre waiting to get a glimpse of One Direction.

It didn’t start well when I narrowly missing John Bishop’s car in my fluster getting into the poorly signposted concrete BBC carpark. After pulling ourselves together, we headed to reception (star spotting some ‘Lewis’ cast members on the way and musing on the irony of seeing them so far from our home town of Oxford) and within ten minutes or so were being shown in to the room we were to present in.

It reminded me a lot of my old school classroom: quite small, full of desks, chairs and decked out in carpet tiles. The unimposing room, and the friendliness of the production team members set us both at ease immediately. We ran through our 3-minute pitch, props and all, in front of a single camera, and managed it in a single take (it was a relief to get it all out!). We then answered a string of personal questions while the camera continued to roll, about our background and motivation for starting our own business, as well as why we wanted the money.

Finally, we were sat down and taken through the paperwork. There was quite a lot of it and it was all quite thorough! All done, we were thanked and shown the door, being told we would hear shortly if we were picked to go through to the final show. It was quite surreal being back out on the street afterwards. We rewarded ourselves with a burger at the Westfield Shopping Centre over the road before heading home.

Another 6 weeks passed before we heard from them again. We had once more assumed that we hadn’t made the cut, when a phone call at work one Thursday told us they had shortlisted us for the final week of filming, to start the following week. “You may, or may not get on” we were informed. Well that put us in a pickle! We were in the midst of quite a busy period, so should we take time off to prepare for something that might not happen? We decided not, and to prioritise our customer orders instead. The following day they called again. “You’re definitely on, and we’ll need you up in Manchester on Monday to prepare for filming the following day”.

Now it was time for panic stations!! It was Friday morning, we had pre-arranged plans for the weekend and we were expected to be ready to pitch to the dragons next Tuesday. Oh, and did I mention the reams of paperwork we were sent through to complete? An 18-point list of information we would need to provide them with beforehand, from outline business plan, to evidence of domain ownership, legal approvals, insurances, market research on competitors, evidence of sales, it went on and on! It took me until Sunday afternoon to complete the paperwork. Meanwhile Stuart worked on the improved pitch, and pulling all our figures together. If there was one thing we were certain of it was that we weren’t going to be caught out on the figures or valuation.

We know how to argue like cat and dog

We drove up to Manchester on Monday late afternoon. The BBC had arranged for us to stay in a hotel the night before, as we were being picked up early the next day. We were getting quite stressed by this time and starting to bicker over the detail – at one point during our journey Stuart threatened to jump out of the car while we were on the motorway!

Suffice to say after 17 years together we’ve had enough big bust ups to know when we’re over-reacting and made up shortly afterwards.

We ran through our pitch for the first time that evening – it wasn’t the only pitch we had our minds on that night though.

Like Villa’s motto – we did our best to ‘Be Prepared’ (after the match of course)

Memorising the figures was made all that much harder by there being a rather exciting Villa game on in the background. Villa demolished Sunderland 6-1 in a vital relegation battle match, so we consoled ourselves that the week couldn’t be all bad!

The morning came. It was Tuesday 30th April when we were to finally get in front of the dragons. The car came at 7am to pick us up and whisk us to the studio at Media City, Manchester…

By Kelly Lea

Oxfordshire couple and co-founders of PlayDNA, Dr. Samantha Decombel and Dr. Stuart Grice, were seen on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den last night pitching for £50,000 investment in their business which creates artwork from DNA at Cherwell Innovation Centre.

Dr Stuart and Dr Sam face the dragons

Together for 17 years, the couple had an attractive business proposition if only the expert panel of entrepreneurs were able to keep their mind on the business in hand. Instead, viewers saw the Dragons probing for personal information about Sam and Stuart’s marital status rather than focussing on PlayDNA’s business potential, ending with Peter Jones offering the sum of £50,000 to Stuart if he proposed to Sam on the show.

Spot the scientists!

Undeterred by the TV experience filmed in May 2013, the business savvy couple have recently launched MuscleGenes, a sports specific spin-off company of PlayDNA, established to analyse genes that impact on fat burning, endurance, speed, metabolism and aerobic capacity.

The company already boasts celebrity clients including professional rugby player, Roger Wilson and TV presenter Andi Peters, both of whom have endorsed MuscleGenes via testimonials and social media. Celebrity doctor Dr Christian Jessen of Embarrassing Bodies fame is also known to have taken the test.

Dr. Samantha Decombel explains: “MuscleGenes has taken us to a whole new market. Our sales have already eclipsed PlayDNA in our first few months of trading and we have experienced significant growth and appetite for our product in the UK and US. We feel Duncan Bannatyne definitely missed a trick by not looking at the bigger picture, especially with his knowledge of the sports sector.”

The MuscleGenes test focuses solely on the information contained within an individuals DNA to help fine tune training programmes, performance and nutritional advice, with no artwork involved.

Swabbing the legendary Ronnie Coleman!

The idea for MuscleGenes came about shortly after the den experience in a chance meeting with co-founder, Dr. Dan Reardon, a medic and former personal trainer.

Within 3 months MuscleGenes was formed and the impact was immediate. “Our sales went through the roof and we had to take the product off sale because we couldn’t manage the demand!” says Dr. Samantha Decombel. “In May, we were despondently walking out the den without investment. By September, we were in Vegas at the Mr Olympia event swabbing 8-times Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman!”

The MuscleGenes team in their lab space at Cherwell Innovation Centre

The team is already five strong with plans to recruit an additional two people to join the Cherwell Innovation Centre HQ following further investment in high-throughput equipment. Commenting on her journey to date, Dr. Samantha Decombel continues: “It is difficult for scientists to have the ability to start-up a company due to the significant investment needed in lab space and equipment. We have been very lucky to discover Cherwell Innovation Centre, as rather than funding an entire lab, we have been able to just rent a bench in addition to sharing equipment and office space with scientists who are in a similar situation. This has enabled us to invest in other areas, such as our branding and marketing, vital for product sales and the success of the business.”

Cherwell Innovation Centre is one of the only facilities in Oxfordshire to provide a flexible agreement for start-ups interested in lab space, office space and meeting room facilities.

The MuscleGenes Nation!The sharp-eyed amongst you may spot a few IFBB Pros amongst the happy MG customers

MuscleGenes new website is now live with the aim of capitalising from primetime TV exposure gained through the Dragons Den appearance. To find out more about the company and how genetics can help improve your sports performance, visit: musclegenes.com. Alternatively, visit PlayDNA for a family DNA portrait.

A happy ending!

For people intrigued by the Dragons’ probing into Sam and Stuart’s personal life, the University of Oxford DPhil Geneticist proposed to his business partner and girlfriend last November in Stratford-upon-Avon, the location of their first date just before Sam’s 16th birthday. The couple are now both 33. Dr. Samantha Decombel concludes: “We are (finally!) very happily engaged to be married and after 17 years of waiting I wouldn’t swap Stuart’s eventual proposal for any amount of Peter’s money, it was much more romantic than a TV studio!”

by Dr James Sleigh

To celebrate the appearance of PlayDNA on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, we are diving into the mystical world of dragons…

Here be dragons

Powerful, fearsome, venomous. A rare breed of predator with sharp claws, razor-like teeth, and an insatiable appetite. No, we are not talking about Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, or even Duncan Bannatyne of Dragons’ Den fame. We are describing the Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard, and native of the Indonesian Islands of Southeast Asia. But, do they deserve their dragon moniker?

They have no wings, and they can’t breathe fire, you say. Nor do they live for centuries, or like to hoard gold.

Nevertheless, these creatures, which can grow to over three metres in length and eat up to 80% of their body weight in a single feed, do possess an almost mythical ability worthy of the dragon name.

Miraculously, in separate zoos in the UK (Chester and London), two female Komodos, which were completely isolated from males, laid clutches of eggs that resulted in lots of baby dragons. This ability for females to produce offspring without mating with a male is known as parthenogenesis, and is very rarely seen in vertebrate species (those with a backbone like you and me). In fact, only about 1 in 1,000 vertebrates can reproduce in this manner. It was particularly unexpected that such a large animal as the Komodo dragon would join this rather selective group.

Intriguingly, all the virgin baby dragons were males. This is because of the interesting genetics of Komodos. Much like we have X and Y sex chromosomes (XX = female and XY = male), Komodo dragons have W and Z chromosomes. However, rather than females having two of the same sex chromosome like humans, female Komodos have one W and one Z chromosome while males are ZZ. When female dragons are isolated from males, through parthenogenesis they are able to duplicate either their W or Z chromosome (along with the rest of their non-sex chromosomes), resulting in eggs that are either WW or ZZ. The WW eggs do not survive, but the ZZ eggs produce viable male baby dragons.

Hello mummy!Photo courtesy of BBC

It is believed that this ability to switch between sexual and asexual reproduction has evolved as a strategy to be able to survive in the Komodo’s natural habitat of isolated islands. Females finding themselves washed up on unpopulated islands are able to reproduce asexually, producing males for future mating.

Fascinating.

Not quite cloning, but I’m sure some of the BBC dragons would be interested in making similar duplicates of themselves so they could make twice as much money! What’s that? You want to know the outcome of PlayDNA’s adventure in the dragon’s lair? Well, you will just have to wait until Sunday to see how Dr. Sam and Dr. Stuart fared…

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PlayDNA Limited · Combining the highest quality fine art media with modern molecular genetic techniques, we can create an original masterpiece based on your very own DNA so you can literally show the world what you're made of!